Anniversary
by B.L.A. the Mouse
Summary: Harper gives Rommie a gift.


Summary: Harper gives Rommie a gift.

Codes: Harper/Rommie

Disclaimer: Tribune owns all rights to _Andromeda_. I just borrowed them for use in my twisted little tale.

Rating: PG

Spoilers: None. At all. Unless, of course, you've never seen the show.

Feedback: Please! I love praise and constructive criticism, but flames will be used to make dinner.

Archive: Ask first and I'll probably say yes.

Author's Note: I was randomly playing around, and somehow I came up with this snippet.

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Anniversary

By B.L.A. the Mouse

"Harper," Rommie said patiently, "why am I here? And where is here?"

"So you didn't cheat?" He grinned, though he knew she couldn't see him through the blindfold. "Relax, Rom-doll, I'm not going to let anything happen to you." 

"Only because you're the one that would have to repair me. And that's not what I asked." She may have been patient, but that was wearing thin after weeks of him dodging any question she asked about the upcoming event. 

"If I told you, it would spoil the surprise. Besides, I'm almost done." He rearranged the package one last time, poking it into place, then stood behind her to remove the blindfold. "Surprise!"

Rommie looked. She was staring out at the Obs. Deck window; her eyes fell to the small package propped against it. "A present?"

"Yup!" He bounded forward to retrieve it and hand it to her. "One year's worth."

"Thank you." Smiling in anticipation, she pulled off the ribbon- neatly tied- and tugged at the clumsy wrapping. It was a small box, a jeweler's type. "Harper…"

"Just open it." He stood by her shoulder, fidgeting as she did.

"Harper…" she murmured, awed as it caught the light. "It's…"

It was a small gold outline of a heart, hovering at the end of a gold chain. They both gleamed- the pendant polished to a turn, the chain newly made, both holding the light of molten fire. 

"Um… It's old," he supplied as her silence continued. "The charm, I mean. I brought it off Earth with me. It was my mother's, one of them anyway, she had a few that she managed to hide from the Dragons."

"I can't accept this…" she breathed, still staring as it turned gently at the end of the chain. She started to lower it into the box, but he took her hand in his, pulled it back out. 

"No, you can. I got all of hers after she and Dad… died. I gave one to Beka, after I'd been on the _Maru_ awhile, and now I'm giving one to you. Every woman I love."

She mock-glared, the smile creeping back across her face giving it away. 

"Hey, you're the only one I love like that!" he added, after a nervous gulp. He got indignant when she started laughing. "Y'know, I get enough adrenaline rushes from the Nietzscheans around here. I don't need my One And Only True Love to help-"

"Be quiet, Harper." To soothe both insult and injury, she leaned over and kissed him; he turned away in pretend scorn, and she brushed across half his mouth and part of his cheek. The motion left a smear of dark red lipstick.

Rommie laughed again, wiping at it where it stood out against his much-paler skin. When he resisted, she trapped his chin with one hand and rubbed with the other thumb. 

He twisted away. "I don't need an Oedipus complex, thanks, so no mothering."

"Why not? I have an Electra complex, according to my mainframe, so it dovetails nicely."

He looked at her. "That aside, why didn't you get the rest of it?"

"Because," she stroked a fingertip lightly over the skin around his 'port, just to see him twitch, "I saw no reason to get off what I was just about to put back on."

She leaned forward and gently kissed him on the lips, over half the lipstick stain. It was sweet, and soft, and he practically melted before she let him go. 

"So you like it?" he asked, after a moment of looking at her with glazed eyes. 

Rommie smiled. "Very much." She lifted it from the box and paused. "Put it on me?" The offer was almost shy, it was so tentative.

"But of course." He took the necklace, darted behind her to fasten it. "I don't see how it's so hard. You just put the hook through the loop, it's not like it's-"

"Harper," she interrupted, "it's a sweet, semi-romantic gesture. Don't ruin it."

He came around to face her again. "I'm just putting the Harper spin on it." Grinning, he kissed her throat, just above the chain. 

"Thank you, Harper." She looked down at it. "It's beautiful."

"No more than you." He beamed at the glare he received for the overworked line. "Happy anniversary, Rom-doll."

The End


End file.
